Hello! This is Yoshimoto from Circles Tokyo!
And thank you to everyone who attended the Circles 18th Anniversary event the other day!
For me personally, this was my first trip back to Nagoya since Circles Tokyo opened, so I ran into so many familiar faces. I was so busy talking that I didn’t realize it until it was all over in a flash...
Some of you may have already noticed, but leading up to that anniversary event, John and I rode our bikes from Circles Tokyo to Nagoya for our "BIKE TO Anniversary Festival" project!
When you talk about riding a bike between Tokyo and Nagoya, most people probably think of the "Cannonball" challenge, right? It was actually quite memorable that the most common question I got at the party about riding from Tokyo was, "How many hours did it take you?"
When it comes to a Cannonball run, it’s basically all about speed, so a road bike is the only choice. But since I had some tires I wanted to test out (look forward to upcoming releases!), I rode my SKLAR Super Something, and John rode the DOPPO Ronin, which was just about to be released, from Tokyo to Nagoya.
I planned this three-day Tomei ride with the hope of proposing a route that lets you make the most of your tires and enjoy the journey, and I’d like to report on how it went!
Riding Toward Mt. Fuji
We departed, of course, from Circles Tokyo in Toranomon, Minato-ku.
To escape Tokyo, we headed west on Route 246 through Roppongi, Shibuya, and Sangenjaya. Climbing the hills of Roppongi, descending into Shibuya, and climbing again, I really felt how the city of Tokyo was carved into the Musashino Terrace. By the time our bodies were warmed up, we reached Futako-Tamagawa.
Seeing Mt. Fuji—our destination for the day—in the distance, we steeled ourselves for the ride ahead.
For lunch, we stopped by ZEBRA COFFEE, a staple for Kanto cyclists. We stuffed our faces with homemade croissant sandwiches and were rejuvenated by their house-roasted coffee. With the scenery of Lake Sagami behind us, we pushed on along the Koshu Kaido towards Otsuki. You can really feel the traces of those who came before us in the post towns scattered along the old road.
As we entered Fujiyoshida City, we were overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of Mt. Fuji right in front of us. Bathed in the sunset with a clean cap of snow, it was truly divine—perfectly embodying the spirit of a "sacred peak." Pondering whether it was my Japanese DNA finding this spiritual connection to the mountain, we arrived at our hotel in Fujiyoshida, the end of our first day.
To the Most Important Destination of the Trip
Feeling the strong push of the westerlies at our backs from Fujiyoshida (a wind that would torment us throughout this trip), we turned our handlebars east for the first time on this trip, heading toward Lake Yamanaka.
Descending from Kagosaka Pass, we were greeted by a vast field of Japanese pampas grass. We were riding right through the middle of the East Fuji Maneuver Area, famous for the Ground Self-Defense Force's live-fire training drills. The occasional sound of gunfire only added to the feeling of being somewhere extraordinary.
The highlight of the trip: the gravel forest roads on the south side of Mt. Fuji. We unleashed all the elevation we’d painstakingly accumulated up to this point. With a perfect gradient and flowing double track, it was a prime route that made us realize, "This is exactly why we’re traveling on gravel bikes."
There are even trail courses nearby, and my only regret is that we didn't have a full day to play there.
Next stop was another must-visit destination: the Tenryu bike shop, Happy&Slappy! It's a shop run by Happy, a Circles graduate, in his hometown of Tenryu, Hamamatsu. Whether you need a bike tune-up in the middle of a long journey or some body maintenance via their special, chive-packed gyoza, you absolutely have to stop by!
The Final Day Turned Into a Cannonball Run After All
The ultimate goal was, of course, the BIKE TO Anniversary Festival. We started at 7 AM to cover the remaining 130 km from Hamamatsu, determined to make it to the 2 PM gathering at Heiwa Park.
You can tell how strong the wind was by the way the palm trees were bending. We were fighting those westerlies from start to finish. Along the way, we picked up a strong foreign recruit: Harper, a guy from Seattle who was touring in the same direction. Thanks to his "demonic" pulling power, we were able to arrive at Heiwa Park just in time at 2 PM.
Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome!
Reflecting on the Trip
Here are the main things that left me wanting more after this ride:
・I want to ride more of the gravel on the south side of Mt. Fuji.
The Fujiyama Powerline Trail looks interesting.
・I want to visit CYCL at Lake Yamanaka and have a sauna while looking at the magnificent view of Mt. Fuji.
・I want to watch the Shinkansen pass by at 270 km/h at Shin-Fuji Station.
(There's also a Maglev test track in Otsuki!)
・I want to go to the sauna at Shikiji.
・I want to ride around Tenryu, where Wonder Hopper was held.
・I want to eat ramen at Young in Mishima.
・I want to drink beer at the West Coast Brewing brewery and stay overnight.
That's right! There's no reason to be saying "Shizuoka is long" during a Cannonball run! My first impression upon reflection is that even though we took three days, it still wasn't nearly enough.
Including Mt. Fuji and the places we couldn't get to this time, the route was packed with the charms of Japan. Between the atmospheric streets of the old post roads, the majestic gravel views of Mt. Fuji, and the Shinkansen running alongside us, there were things I only saw for the first time by moving under my own power on a bicycle—sights I usually just breeze right past.
I hope you'll consider this a candidate for a route to take if you want to travel between Tokyo and Nagoya at a slower pace.
